DIRCO Annual Report

relief, development, as well as combatting illicit financial flows (IFFs). The G20 pledged to support African countries to overcome the COVID-19 crisis, including by exploring more sustainable financing options for growth in Africa. The G20 leaders agreed to extend the G20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) for the poorest countries to mid-2021. The G20 committed to affordable and equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines for all and to put the global economy back on a path to restoring growth and protecting and creating jobs. The group further expressed its support for the ACT-A initiative and its COVAX Facility. Furthermore, the group adopted the G20 Action Plan, which includes a set of commitments to continue supporting the policy response to the pandemic and steer international economic coordination towards a strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive recovery, while preparing for the post-COVID-19 world. DIRCO provided support for the President’s virtual participation in the high-level events related to sustainable development at the 75th Session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA75). This included participation in high-level events on health and on financing for development, where issues of central importance to developing countries were discussed, such as external finance and remittances, jobs and inclusive growth; recovering better for sustainability; global liquidity and financial stability; debt vulnerability; sector creditors engagement; and IFFs. South Africa demonstrated its commitment to multilateralism and a collective response to global challenges, such as environmental crises and climate change, including through participation in high-level virtual meetings of the Alliance for Multilateralism. Owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, the General Debate and high-level meetings of UNGA75 took place virtually from 18 September to 2 October 2020, under the theme: “The Future We Want, the UN We Need: Reaffirming our Collective Commitment to Multilateralism”. President Ramaphosa, in his capacity as President of the Republic of South Africa and Chairperson of the AU, participated in the General Debate of UNGA75 and several other high-level events, including the High-level Meeting of the General Assembly to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the formation of the UN. South Africa concluded its non-permanent membership of the UNSC in December 2020 after serving for two years, from 2019 to 2020. Its term was defined by the theme “Continuing the Legacy: Working for a Just and Peaceful World”, drawing on the legacy of

global initiative to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic and is a response to the accelerated development, production and equitable access to new COVID-19 tools, which was launched in April 2020. The Facilitation Council provides high-level political leadership and enabling advice to facilitate the work of the ACT Accelerator, a commitment to the shared aim of equitable global access to innovative tools for COVID-19 for all and an unprecedented level of partnership – proactively engaging stakeholders, aligning and coordinating efforts, building on existing collaborations, collectively devising solutions and grounding the global partnership in transparency and science. Since September 2020, the co-chairs, represented by the Minister of Health of South Africa and the Minister of International Development of Norway, have spearheaded discussions and put together a Prioritised and Integrated Strategy and Details Budget for 2021 in order to fund the ACT-A and its Vaccines pillar, the COVAX Facility.

The second virtual Summit of the G20 took place in November 2020, where significant achievements were made in the areas of trade, health, development, gender and African priorities, including G20 support for the Compact with Africa, industrialisation in Africa, debt

Department of International Relations and Cooperation

86